Kings County, California
Kings County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is located in a rich agricultural region. The county seat is Hanford. Kings County is part of the Hanford - Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA Code 25260). The population was 129,461 at the time of the 2000 census. However, the California Department of Finance estimates that the county's population had grown to 151,381 as of January 1, 2007. History Kings County was formed in 1893 from the western part of Tulare County. In 1909 a triangular area of was taken from Fresno County and added to Kings County http://kingsnet.kings.k12.ca.us/kcoe/curric/history/places/kingsbirth.html The county derives its name from the Kings River, which, according to Padre Muñoz' diary of the Moraga Expedition of 1806, was discovered in 1805 by an exploring expedition and named Rio de los Santos Reyes (River of the Holy Kings). Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,604 km² (1,391 sq mi). 3,603 km² (1,391 sq mi) of it is land and 1 km² (0 sq mi) of it (0.04%) is water. Kings County is bordered on the north and northwest by Fresno County, on the east by Tulare County, on the south by Kern County and a small part of San Luis Obispo County and on the west by Monterey County. Most of the historic Tulare Lake was within Kings County. Although reclaimed for farming late in the 19th Century, it was once was considered to be the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. Cities and towns *Armona *Avenal *Corcoran *Hanford *Home Garden *Kettleman City *Lemoore *Lemoore Station *Stratford Proposed New City *Quay Valley Ranch Indian Reservation *Santa Rosa Rancheria Adjacent Counties * Kern County - south * Tulare County - east * Fresno County - north, northwest * Monterey County - west * San Luis Obispo County - southwest Transportation Infrastructure Major Highways * Interstate 5 * California State Route 33 * California State Route 41 * California State Route 43 * California State Route 198 Public Transportation Kings Area Rural Transit (KART) operates regularly scheduled fixed route bus service, vanpool service for commuters and Dial-A-Ride (demand response) services throughout Kings County as well as to Fresno http://www.kartaits.com/. Amtrak trains stop in Corcoran and Hanford. Orange Belt Stages provides inter-city bus service to and from Hanford. Connections with Greyhound can be made in Visalia or Paso Robles. Airports Hanford Municipal Airport is a general aviation airport located just southeast of Hanford. Demographics As of the census² of 2000, there were 129,461 people, 34,418 households, and 26,983 families residing in the county. However, the California Department of Finance estimates that the population had grown to 149,758 as of July 1, 2006 California Department of Finance, Table E-2, California County Population Estimates and Percent Change, Revised July 1, 2000 through Provisional July 1, 2006. The population density based on the 2000 census was 36/km² (93/sq mi). There were 36,563 housing units at an average density of 10/km² (26/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 53.68% White, 8.30% Black or African American, 1.68% Native American, 3.07% Asian, 0.19% Pacific Islander, 28.28% from other races, and 4.79% from two or more races. 43.61% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 63.6% spoke English, 30.9% Spanish, 1.4% Tagalog, 1.4% Portuguese and 1.3% Samoan as their first language. There were 34,418 households out of which 46.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.0% were married couples living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.6% were non-families. 17.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.18 and the average family size was 3.56. In the county the population was spread out with 29.0% under the age of 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 35.0% from 25 to 44, 16.8% from 45 to 64, and 7.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 134.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 148.8 males. The median income for a household in the county was $35,749, and the median income for a family was $38,111. Males had a median income of $31,700 versus $24,772 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,848. About 15.8% of families and 19.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.9% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over. Politics Kings is a strongly Republican county in Presidential and congressional elections. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Kings is part of California's California's 20th congressional district, which is held by Democrat Jim Costa. In the state legislature, Kings is part of the 30th Assembly district, which is held by Democrat Nicole Parra, and the 16th Senate district, which is held by Democrat Dean Florez. References External links *Kings County website *Kings County history website operated by the Kings County Office of Education *Kings County Economic Development Corporation website Category:Counties of California Category:Kings County, California